Innovative Management of Wheel-Rail Adhesion Conditions in Localization Algorithms for the Automatic Train Protection

In this paper the management of adhesion conditions is enhanced using an Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) which improves the adhesion condition detection and the speed and travelled distance estimation. The testing of the proposed algorithm is performed through a testing simulator, set up by the MDM Lab and used to speed up the algorithm tuning, capable of replicating in a realistic way the motion dynamic effects of a railway vehicle on inertial sensors. The Hardware-In-The-Loop test rig is composed of a Matlab-Simulink three-dimensional multibody model of a railway vehicle, a commercial anthropomorphic manipulator with spherical wrist and an IMU designed by ECM Spa (Pistoia, Italy). The experimental results are compared to the performance requirements fixed by the European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS).